NASCAR Cup Series Champion Ryan Blaney visits Eau Claire

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - 11 days ago, Ryan Blaney won the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series at Phoenix Raceway in the Number 12 Menards car. Thursday, the NASCAR superstar visited Menards and Eau Claire to celebrate his victory.

Early Thursday afternoon, Blaney took part in a celebration at Menards headquarters where he also spoke with the media about his win. “Like as each day goes by, it sinks in a little bit more,” said Blaney. “So it was hard to sink in, you know, especially the days right after. So everything was kind of on go at a pretty rapid pace. But as the days go by, a sinks in a little bit more each day.”

Blaney also shared his thanks for the support of his sponsor John Menard, and discussed the impact of Menards on the Eau Claire community. “Always good to come up here,” said Blaney. “See everyone from Menards. I get to see John, you know, it’s always special. And I just love the area around here, you know, and and how much Menards means to this town. And it’s great to be a part of something like that, you know? So I enjoy coming up here a good bit, but obviously, this is the most special time I feel like.”

Later Thursday evening, Blaney participated in a meet and greet at the Pablo Center in Eau Claire with hundreds of fans. Fans were able to meet Blaney, receive autographs, take pictures with the champion driver, and see Blaney’s car that he used to win the championship.

Some attendees traveled from far and wide to come celebrate Blaney, including Hastings, Minnesota brothers Mike and Kyle Nogle. “Blaney is one of my favorite drivers,” said Mike. “And being from Minnesota, we kind of have a joke that this is probably as close as we’re going to get to a championship parade. So it was a it was a quick little drive down the road. So we figured not knock it off the bucket list.”

“Awesome that Menards and Blaney were able to put this together and come up here and show give us Midwest fans some support,” added Kyle Nogle.

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